Surface texturing was investigated in order to improve the tribological properties of a DLC/steel lubricated sliding contact. A direct coating texturing process based on a laser lithography technique was developed and used for patterning hydrogenated amorphous carbon (a-C:H) layers. Circular cavities with various diameters and depths were thus realised. Tribological characterisation of those textured layers was performed by means of a ball-on-disk tribometer and different effects on friction and wear behaviours were highlighted depending on the cavity dimensions. Creation of small and shallow cavities on a DLC layer allowed a significant reduction of friction coefficient of a DLC/steel contact comparing to a system with a non-textured DLC film. (C) 2010 Published by Elsevier B.V.